Senate votes to reopen government

House prospects uncertain

January 3, 1996
Web posted at: 12:30 a.m. EST

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate unanimously approved a measure
to reopen the government Tuesday. Aimed at ending the record
18-day shutdown and returning 260,000 employees to work, the
legislation will now be considered by the House, which has
stiffly resisted reopening the government without a budget
agreement on the table.

The measure, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole,
R-Kansas, would fund the government through January 12 at
last year's pay levels. The House vote is expected Wednesday.

"People have been gone from their jobs long enough," said
Dole, who is the front-runner for the Republican presidential
nomination. "Enough is enough."

Clinton and a bi-partisan Congressional leadership, including
Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, held
discussions for over three hours at the White House late
Tuesday evening, managing to squeeze in a soup and pasta
dinner.

"Our talks continue to make progress," negotiators said in a
joint statement. All sides apparently agreed to not divulge
details of the discussions to the media and to resume talks
Wednesday.

Before the meeting, President Clinton praised the Senate's
decision to reopen the government and said he hoped the House
would follow suit.

Gingrich camp: 'It has no chance'

As the meeting began, Gingrich was non-committal about
whether the House would pass the measure, saying only that he
would discuss Tuesday evening's meeting with House
Republicans on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, however, Gingrich predicted the shutdown
would end only when there was a seven-year balanced budget
accord, underscoring differences between the GOP-dominated
Senate and House on the issue.

"I don't think the House GOPs are going to agree to avoid
dealing with getting to a balanced budget," he said.

Gingrich spokesman Tony Blankley told The Associated Press
that the Senate measure "can't possibly pass the House." "It
has no chance in the House, and everybody understands that,"
he was quoted as saying. He was reported as saying that the
bill was "a tactical judgment for the Senate."

Dole conceded that some House members did not share his
opinion that it was time to end the shutdown. "They feel this
(the closure) is helpful in bringing about a balanced
budget," he said. "That's not my view."

"In the next few weeks, the shutdown could mean that states
literally get left holding the bag on Medicaid, that
community health centers are forced to turn away the sick,
that Head start children get locked out of their program,
that vital services for seniors simply evaporate and that
more private sector workers join federal workers sitting on
the sidelines."

-- Donna Shalala

With 260,000 federal workers idling and unpaid since December
15 and another 500,000 at work without pay, the pressure to
return the workers to work has been mounting.

The Senate also passed an alternative measure that would send
employees back to work, but without pay.

Two federal unions have gone to court asking federal Judge
Emmet Sullivan to bar the government from requiring employees
to work without pay. A ruling is expected Wednesday.

Democrats say shutdown will harm sick, elderly

It's not only federal employees who are being affected by the
budget stalemate. Beginning Tuesday, contractors to the
Medicare program and Meals on Wheels will not be paid for
services. Democrats said that will result in thousands of hot
meals not being delivered to senior citizens and the possible
disruption of Medicare services.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, in a joint
news conference with House Democratic leader Richard
Gephardt, painted an ominous picture of what a continued
partial government closure could mean.

"In the next few weeks, the shutdown could mean that states
literally get left holding the bag on Medicaid, that
community health centers are forced to turn away the sick,
that Head start children get locked out of their program,
that vital services for seniors simply evaporate and that
more private sector workers join federal workers sitting on
the sidelines," Shalala said.